


textbook answer

by discranola



Series: every copy of hunt down the freeman is personalized [1]
Category: Half-Life, Hunt Down The Freeman (Video Game)
Genre: Adam being Adam, Alternate Universe - Video Game World, Not Beta Read, Out of Character, Overuse of italics, Tags Contain Spoilers, inspired by hlvrai, nick just continues to have a fucking horrible time in my fics, so sorry to y'all for making this. and the fact that ill be making more, teen for swearing, yet again. no idea how to tag this
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-13
Updated: 2020-07-13
Packaged: 2021-03-05 00:00:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 751
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25245034
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/discranola/pseuds/discranola
Summary: Why would you promise retaliation in your surrender broadcast?01001101 01101001 01110100 01100011 01101000 00101110 00101110 00101110 00111111
Series: every copy of hunt down the freeman is personalized [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1828873
Comments: 1
Kudos: 9





	textbook answer

**Author's Note:**

> oh my fucking god another hdtf fic. jesus christ. im so fucking sorry.   
> personally dont like this one as much as my other one (in fact i DONT like it), and i kinda rushed out the ending because i realized, 'oh shit, you actually have to plan out stories instead of just saying whatever, huh?' not beta'd either so pls point out any glaring mistakes
> 
> and yes, mitchell is 100% intentionally out of character. cos. //vaguely gestures

Nick thought Adam and Mitchell were odd.

In any normal situation, he would probably find Adam the weirdest. He was vague about _everything_ , usually speaking in whispered tones with a smirk. Sometimes he’d catch him staring off into a corner with nothing interesting in it. Fuck, he’s pretty sure he saw him _shoot_ someone once -- and no one cared. Not to mention the strange, buzzing feeling he occasionally got in his head around him. 

But Mitchell was worse, somehow.

He didn’t seem to _care_ about the current, world-changing apocalyptic alien invasion at _all_. Even Adam, for all his strangeness, seemed a bit on edge. Mitchell’s reaction to the news could best be summed up as a small pause and a nod. 

He thinks he saw him _laugh_ at the President’s surrender message. 

“Why would you promise retaliation in your surrender broadcast?” He whispered to Adam, who laughed back. 

Sometimes, he’d seem caught off guard when Nick replied to him as if he forgot he was there or wasn’t expecting it. He’d stare at the same corners Adam would. He’d pause to fiddle with an imaginary pair of glasses (seriously, what _was_ that?). 

He wasn’t taking the fact that he was a Special Operations Unit with fresh scars littering his face in the middle of the end-of-the-world seriously. 

“So, what were you doing before all this?” 

Nick blinked and looked at the man sitting next to him. “Huh?”

“You know, the… war. This whole mess.” Mitchell dramatically waved his arm to the bullet holes on the walls. 

Nick huffed. That was an incredibly personal question from a man he’d met only a few hours ago. Still, he was probably trying to make small-talk. 

“Was moving back to base when this huge light appeared over the city,” he shrugged, “you probably know the rest.”

For a second Mitchell almost looked like he wanted to call him out on being vague before he decided better. “What about you?”

Mitchell made the glasses motion and muttered to himself. “Was doing a mission. I guess I got caught in the wrong place at the wrong time because, uh. I think I died?”

Ah. Nick wasn’t expecting that.

“You _what_?”

Despite what he just said, Mitchell _laughed_. “Yeah, yeah. It sounds bullshit, but I’m pretty sure I heard a flatline. Well, and, these scars hurt pretty bad, I think.”

‘He _thinks_?’ Nick thought as he grit his teeth as subtly as he possibly could. Apparently this enigma of a man couldn’t even take his _supposed death and sudden revival_ seriously. Maybe Adam would be easier to deal with right about now, whatever he was bloody doing. 

“You know, it’s weird because I could’ve _sworn_ the guy who did it wasn’t,” Mitchell paused, “oh, hey.”

Speak of the devil. Adam had sauntered back into the room as if he never left to ‘look for supplies’. He had nothing with him _and_ the uncomfortable droning noise in Nick’s skull was back. 

“How’s it going? Sharing life stories?” Adam hummed, sitting irritatingly close to Mitchell. “I don’t have any interesting ones, I’m afraid.” 

Nick doubted that.

Adam must have seen the look on his face because he practically cackled. It seemed he had two modes of laughter; a quiet reserved huff and supervillain glee. It fit him pretty well.

“Anyway, Mitch, I think it’s your turn.”

“...What?”

The Black Ops gained a very pointed look on his face. “You know, look for supplies. You’ve been sitting here for a while now, you need to take a break. Stretch or something. Go outside.”

_Isn’t he taking a break right now? Why didn’t **you** get any supplies? Why would you want to go outside when the city is swarming with gods-know-what?_

“Oh, right, yeah.”

Of course, Mitchell agreed. Of _course_ , he did. Before Nick could act as the straight man of the two’s fucked up comedy routine, Mitchell was already on his feet, sending a small wave their way before he crossed the corner and disappeared. 

And now, Adam was sitting next to him instead. 

“Mitch is a pretty interesting guy, isn’t he?” If Nick didn’t know any better, he’d say Adam sounded shockingly fond. “You are too. In a different way.” He hoped that was a compliment. 

The atmosphere changed, and the buzzing in Nick’s head got worse. Surprisingly, Adam looked uncomfortable too. Adam’s hand wrapped around his, and Nick found he was too distracted to care.

“See you around, Nick.”

Nick wouldn’t remember it later, but everything went black.

**SAVED**

**Author's Note:**

> Node Graph Out Of Date. Rebuilding...


End file.
